1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power connector, and more particularly to a power connector with an improved retaining member for being flexibly assembled to power contacts.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 7,641,523 B2 issued on Jan. 5, 2010 discloses a traditional power connector including an insulative housing and a plurality of power contacts retained in passageways of the insulative housing for being mounted to a PCB. Each power contact includes a plurality of protrusion barbs, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, for abutting against inner surfaces of corresponding passageway for fixation. However, under this arrangement, the power contacts are directly and rigidly secured to the insulative housing. If the power contact has been wrongly fixed to the insulative housing or is broken in assembly and needed to be taken away, removal the power contact from the insulative housing unavoidably damages the passageway. As a result, even if a replacement power contact is newly inserted into the insulative housing, the replacement power contact might not be stably fixed in the passageway any more.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,081 issued on Jun. 16, 1992 discloses another type of power connector including an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts retained in the insulative housing and a plurality of cables fastened to the contacts. Each contact includes a pair of beams and an opening formed therebetween for receiving a conductive layer of corresponding cable. In assembly, the pair of beams are crimped by a stamping machine to be strongly connected with the cable. However, the stamping machine increases the assembly cost and is ineffective as well. Besides, once the beams are fixed with the cable, they can not be easily separated. As a result, reuse of the contacts and the cables is lowered.
Hence, a power connector with an improved retaining member for being flexibly assembled to power contacts is desired.